This Side of Heaven
by Immortal x Snow
Summary: On this side of heaven, nothing is comprehensible. Not the forces working against us. Not that which we believe to be true. Not even our own senses of reality, life, and morality... Entry for Tomoyo and KO's competition!


**Hi! ^_^ This is my entry for Tomoyo and KO's summer competition. Go check it out, y'all. **

**Thank you forever to sakuuya for beta-ing for me~ *huggles*  
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* * *

Behind her closed eyes, she sees explosions of fire.

With her ears, barely able to sense anything within her prison of deep unconsciousness, she hears screams.

Her unusable vocal cords want to cry for help, for salvation from something she can't identify or comprehend.

But is unable to—and she helplessly lets something slither over her stomach and suck the thoughts out of her brain until she loses herself.

* * *

She awakes to something she's never seen.

The wings of an angel.

They flutter from her back, catching and reflecting the shimmering colors of the rainbows radiating through them. Every translucent, delicate feather is flying along with by the slight zephyrs.

Gasping at their beauty, she pulls herself to a sitting position, and the feathers brush around her face, through the warm wind, past her hair, and over her body, as though they possess a will of their own and desire to hold her in their embrace. Still confused, she looks closer, and she sees brightly colored fabric on her thighs. Catching a lock of her hair in her fingers, she discovers that it is a vivid, lively color.

_Why am I my Mew self now....? And why is my fuku is glittering with bright, strange sparkles that were not there before? _

_Something is different... But this is so wonderful, so beautiful…._

She tilts her head back and lets the breeze toy with her hair, kissing her face and encircling her. The air is clean and fresh, and it tastes delicious to the Mew; she never knew that air had a taste. It is an addictive sensation, something that she craves more and more of. She stands up and stretches her arms, overwhelmed by the feelings raging happily to the surface as she closes her eyes.

_This is place cannot be real; it is too perfect, too sweet, too _alive_. And yet, these things cannot be illusions..._

She opens her eyes again and gazes off in the direction of the blood-red sunset. Crimson stains the sky, with lively purple and effervescent pink joining it in a colorful union of breathtaking beauty. One star is visible on the horizon, and it twinkles down on this world, and it seems to wink at her. Its gaze appears to point to something in the distance, and she rushes up the hill a few yards to her left to get a better look. She doesn't seem to become fatigued after running up the tall hill; in fact, her energy only rises with every excited step that brings her closer to the summit.

_Our world… It's so beautiful… The others and I have succeeded in making it so…_

Once she reaches the pinnacle, she cannot believe all that is spread out before her. Huge sapphire pools near the foot of the hill shimmer; peridot grass sprinkled with emerald trees reaches as far she can see; ruby flowers sprout from beautiful plants by her feet; pearl clouds dance high in the sky; diamond stars join together in the garnet sky. When she looks at it all, awe-struck, she can think of nothing but a jewelry box.

Her words are tangled in her throat. She was never one to become speechless at the beauty of nature, but this place is something else, something heavenly and unreal. The thought of trying to figure out where this is and how she had got here never occur to the Mew, and she pushes away all doubts about the dreamy landscape. She instead fills her head with reveries about the cool, refreshing water and how it will taste as it cools her throat, and how the beautiful, fiery red flowers will smell when she presses them to her face.

She runs down the hill and lets her wings spread behind her, before she jumps and realizes that she can indeed fly.

* * *

_There must not be time in this world. _

She knows that there is, but it feels like nothing has happened since she came here—nothing except for her own exploration and excitement.

_Perhaps there is not sound here either. _

She hasn't heard a single thing since she awoke, not even the sound of her voice. She has attempted to speak, but she does not, as if she is unable to. No matter how many times she opens her mouth, no sound pours from her lips; her breath is stolen away whenever she tries to utter cries of amazement or curiosity, as though there is a ravenous vacuum in her lungs.

_I don't understand why I can't speak,_ she thinks, pangs of fear surfacing. _Is something…? Or am I just too amazed to…? _

She shakes her head, hypnotized by the ethereal aura of this place. Nothing can be wrong; this part of the world makes her feel safe. It cannot harm or destroy her.

Glancing up at the vast black sky, she decides that she should get some sleep with the onset of the dark night. For some reason, there is no moon in this place, and she can barely see anything, even with the extra senses of her animal DNA. She tries to turn around and backtrack toward a soft, grassy area near one of the pools, but a huge force slams into her, and she falls to the ground, dazed.

_What was that…?_ She wonders as she stands up again and tries to return to the last pool with slower, more careful steps this time. The force once more shoves her back roughly, and she grits her teeth in pain as she lands on something sharp. She involuntarily opens her mouth to cry out in agony from the puncture wound, but when she feels the crushing pain from inside, she clamps her mouth shut and gasps for air through her nose.

Dragging herself up to a weak slouch, she grimaces in pain as her fingers grope around her shoulder, warm blood gathering on her hands. She looks back to find sharp rocks springing up from the ground—large, jagged spars.

_These…how did they get here? There is nothing destructive about this place…_

She stands up, clutching her wounded shoulder, and decides not to try to go back. The area up ahead of her fails to look promising, however. More sharp rocks jut out of the ground, looking as formidable as icebergs in the cold ocean. The clouds darken, cutting off all possible light, but, just before they do, she manages to catches sight of a glowing cave just a half mile up the path.

She cringes as she realizes how far she will have to run through the swallowing blackness ahead of her, with only the small light to guide her, but she squeezes her eyes shut and takes a step, leaping through the air to fly.

She instantly feels the effects of her near-fatal mistake.

The same force pushing her forward pulls her down, down into the field of sharp rocks and rugged terrain. She narrowly avoids crashing into the huge spikes of obsidian, but she cannot avoid bruising herself on the rough ground.

Propping herself up on her forearms, she clenches her teeth and stares back at the beautiful, rolling hills and soft, warm grass behind her. Her throat closes in horror as she finds that they are gone; ravaging fires and licking, hungry flames have taken their place.

And the fire is coming for her next.

She jumps to her feet, and, ignoring the roaring pain from her shoulder, she begins to run. She flees from the fire, from whatever force is preventing her from turning back, from this place, once so sweet, and now so terrifyingly bitter. She stumbles over stones and trips and falls into the occasional ditch or two. Through the darkness, the only thing that she can see is the little patch of promising light radiating from the cave, pink, purple, yellow, green, and blue flashing in turn from its seemingly small entrance.

Stumbling and aching from lack of air, she finally reaches the entrance. Bubblegum pink light nearly blinds her as she hurries inside, smacking her forehead on the low ceiling and recoiling in pain.

"Ouch," she mutters, assuming that no sound will come out.

She starts in shock at the sound of her voice. She hasn't heard it since for so long, and she barely recognizes the faint, wheezing sounds coloring her voice.

_Something is happening to me. I am mutating into something._

The angel wings, the strange voice, the inability to feel fatigue—which has already faded rapidly--, all of these things. They point to some abnormality, some transformation.

_I am not who I was. I am not myself in Mew form, either. I am some other creature_. _Some other creature that belongs to the realms of deathly sharp crystals sticking out in every angle from this cave._

The crystals that she knows that she now belongs to are beautiful things, glowing rosy pink, bloody crimson, oceanic blue, forest green, citrus yellow, shadowy purple, and even light cream. Their light is the only thing that allows her to see; thankfully, the radiance and splendor pouring from the gems are amazingly bright, and she can see several feet in front of her, which allows her to look around the cave. It is a small tomb-like area hewn into the rock, filled with only the translucent, shimmering crystals.

One particular one lying on the floor piques her interest, and she bends down to touch it, her fuku glittering in the reflected light from the crystals. She looks at her fuku, and suddenly knows what the shining sparkles on it are: fragments of one of the crystals.

She jerks back in horror and begins to try desperately to force the beads of light off her fuku; they are eating away at her clothes, burning holes through it and coming closer to her skin. But they do not come off; rather, they multiply, growing and sticking to her hands, beginning to crawl up her arms and onto her neck. Goosebumps prickle up her skin as she crouches motionless, her eyes wide at the things she thought were beautiful.

The light reaches the end of her neck and comes onto her face, sparkling and glittering like drops of transparent blood. She can see the beads of light out of the corners of her eyes, coming closer and closer…before they stop altogether and, losing their radiance, fall to the ground. She stares at them uncomprehendingly before inching back away from them, her face pale and relieved.

For the moment, anyway.

She decides to stay away from the luring beauty and looks around the rest of the cave. After some time, she finds a small, secluded corner of the tomb—er, cave—that lacks light, and she knows that it must be safe. Taking extra precautions not to touch the burning crystals, she crawls over to the corner… and slides headfirst down a long tunnel.

She screams in fear, groping around wildly for something, anything to break her fall, but there is nothing, save the smooth ceiling, walls, and floor of the tunnel, and she continues to crash and slide down, knowing that her fight to try to stop is useless; that same force must still be out there, preventing her from backtracking or returning to anything—or anyone.

_All I can do I brace myself._

And that's just what she does when she sees faint light in the distance.

* * *

She knows that she crashed into this cavern some time ago. It's all just a matter of being able to put her finger on exactly _when_ this white light started blinding her, when her wings had disappeared, when her right arm became transparent, and when this purple-haired girl had appeared at the other side of the wide cavern with multiple, swallowing tunnels.

She is beautiful: her hair sweeps across the floor; her eyes glow dark gold; her skin is paler than death; and she is tall, stately, and even royal in a way. Her posture is primly rigid and angry-looking, and she refuses to look at the Mew weakly splayed on the ground in front of her, instead staring into the swallowing abyss of the tunnel on the far left.

When her gaze flickers from the tunnel to the Mew, the girl's skin changes color, and the Mew can see right through her. This fact alone is enough to make her draw back with the little strength that she has left, but the forces are still there, and she is only pushed forward toward this creature. A smile curls up the contours of the monster's face, and she shows her cloud-white teeth, her shadowy eyes twinkling in the lights reflecting from the one, enormous red and orange crystal dangling from the impossibly high ceiling.

The emotions spelled out on the mysterious face of the creature make the weaker girl cower, being careful not to crawl backwards, so as not to eventually be killed by the supernatural anger she feels pressing against her.

"Hello," the monster finally says, her voice much younger and more naïve than would the Mew have expected from someone of her size. "You are a Mew." She spits the girl's name out, forcing it from her lips in what sounds like a snarl.

As she comes closer, the Mew's left hand begins to slip into invisibility.

_What is going on? _She screams within her head, still not fully used to having speaking capacities returned to her.

"Everything is going on, my _dear." _The monster grins a biting, bitter smirk, and, holding out her hand, causes slivers of crystal to shower from the ceiling and rain down upon the partially invisible girl. She watches the inferior, creature shudder in fear, and smiles an almost genuine-looking smile.

"You needn't be afraid, darling. These crystals are naught but Mew Aqua in its purest form. Advanced, evolved Mew Aqua, to be precise."

The Mew opens one eye, then the other, staring at the towering figure incredulously.

_Mew Aqua?! These are…_

"Yes, they are Mew Aqua. They are wonderful things. To think that you found them harmful... And do not be amazed, my pet. I can read your mind, which I have taken partial control over, and I also know many things which you do not know. You would know such things and love them as much as I do, if only you were not condemned to your fate from the moment you first took that accursed--"—she raises her hand, and the Mew's pendant detaches from her choker; the fierce creature lunges to the side, and it flies into the wall, shattering into countless fragments—"--charm of yours. All of you."

The monster sighs, her eyes taking on a distant, wistful look.

"All of you. Such hopeless, lost causes. I feel pity toward you now, not the raging fury I had ingrained within my being but seconds ago. You—you had the power."

_Power? But… We always had power… We always had abilities… Who are you?_

"Yes, you were in possession of a certain kind of destructive, monstrous power ever since the chromosomes of those animals entered your DNA. You were weapons against everything you ever knew, against everything in the world itself. You are my enemy, who I must destroy."

_But…the other Mews and I are fighters for justice—_

"Whose justice? Just who were you fighting for, and do you know who your enemies were? Did you ever fully understand not only the extents of your power, but also the motivations behind your fighting? Did the thought ever occur to you that you were not protecting this world? That you were not saving the Earth? Or even the universe, for that matter?"

Her expression becomes vehemently angry again, her eyebrows knotting. She takes a deep breath before she turns to the Mew once again.

_I fought to save the Earth! I fought for my friends! I fought to protect the ones I lov—_

"There are times when such matters are far from enough, child. You failed utterly to protect anything or anyone. All you did was harm them, and now they are dying, if not already dead. To answer your earlier question--"—she pushes locks of hair out of her face, revealing a moon-colored line across the right side of her cheek—"--I am the goddess Izanami. I have watched over Earth for the past era, the era of destruction, started when that man, Shirogane Ryou, that deceased soul—"

_He… He is _dead?!

"But of course, darling. He went to his grave along with that Akasaka Keiichiro…I'm not sure how long ago. After all, there is no time here, for this Earth, this planet, is dying in anguish as we exchange dialogue here. Time itself is dying away now, and it holds no constraints on us. Even the barriers between dimensions are shattering now, and I can feel the dimensions of time and eternity melding into this world of space. The world will collapse on itself before long. And when that happens, so will the universe. As the mother of this planet, when I was still the goddess of creation, I established the spiritual connection between the planets. When this world perishes, it will ignite a chain reaction that will rip apart the universe."

_Collapse on itself? Won't… Won't we die in the process?!_

Izanami laughs a light, trilling titter.

"To this day, there is still so little that you are able to comprehend. You don't even realize, do you? You may have supposed that I am indeed a metaphysical being, incapable of mortalities; however, you do not even seem to recognize that you, too, are like me. Touch your chest. You will feel no pulsing beneath your fingertips."

Her invisible hands shake uncontrollably as she raises them up to her heart. No warm blood flows behind her pale skin.

"I am sorry to admit that you are dead, but I know this for a fact: I am, in fact, the goddess of death. You have been dead for… For an incomprehensible amount of time, that poor, shattered entity. I am strangely sorry to have to tell you this. I didn't entirely want you to die; rather, I prayed with the small parts of my being that were not inflamed by rage that you and your friends might live."

_Then… The others… If I am dead… Dead… Dead… Then are the other Mews…?_

"Yes, they are dead as well. All of you died in the explosions coming from that volcano approximately two miles above us. In fact, we are in a magma chamber this very minute. I am controlling what you see here. If you saw what was truly here, what the world truly looks like, your spirit would instantly perish from the shock and go to a final death. You are preserved from such a fate for these few moments. I must explain to you why you have died, and what is happening to the world. You deserve to know before you finally die for eternity, for I am having visions about what your eternity will be like, and I must say, you will not be able to comprehend much there."

The dead girl's senses are dulled to the point where she is unable to grieve. Her legs disappear into the nothingness, and she suddenly, through slurred thoughts and barely comprehensible thoughts, understands why she is decomposing and fading away like this. Her spirit is dying; it is simply evaporating away, and she is finally dying with the world.

"The universe is dying away because of an imbalance in moral judgment. You, the Mew Mews, the supposed heroes, were persuaded to believe, through your weak human psychology, that only you could save the world. But what were you saving the world from? What would have happened if you chose not to act? Are you able to answer me? Understand that, because you humans are fallen and unable to comprehend goodness and evil, unable to understand morality in itself, the Earth is breathing its final breaths above us right now, as is the universe itself. You are not in the heaven you thought you were in; no, you are in a subspace I have created within this magma chamber."

_I was here… All this time…_

"Your supposed 'enemies', the aliens, were the salvation of the Earth that I sent to you. They were to preserve it and save it from this death it is undergoing. And yet, there were those of you who opposed me. Those of you who thought that they could destroy salvation, those of you who thought that the world was certain to die if you did not step in to save it. But you were too stupid to realize that you only made the state of the world worse. When you killed Deep Blue, you sentenced the world to universe from the inside out, beginning within the hearts of its citizens, now tricked to believe in you who were going against nature and trying to "save the planet!". Because of you and the other Mews, you and those two who innovated the Mew Project, and that Blue Knight, the Earth, the mother planet of the universe, is shriveling away."

_Why… Can't I… Isn't there a way to turn back? You are a goddess…_

"My dear daughter, both you and I are unable to turn back the gates of time, the contents of which are flooding into our dimension now. This world is a pool, an abyss of time and space now, and there is no turning back of these elements now that they are so fully intertwined down to the smallest, most essential parts of their essences. You should have understood this when those barriers prevented you from turning around and retracing your steps in the apparent heaven above us."

The Mew freezes, lying rigidly on the ground, as her torso begins to turn into tiny flickers of light.

"It is nearly time." Izanami sighs. "I grieve for that lost power. Now, these few words that I exchange with you are soon to have no meaning at all. You are ready to die, as is the world. It is fitting that your heart should ache and scream in synchronicity with this burning world."

Orange flames lick the walls of the tunnel, and a dark abyss behind Izanami is flooded with searing magma.

"I am afraid that this is goodbye. The world is crying more and more weakly now."

The once vividly alive Mew breathes more slowly now, her sighs leaving with the wind howling in agony on the ravaged surface of the Earth.

_Izanami…what will happen to you?_

"There is no need for such trifling thoughts. I am immortal, though I am made of morbidity. I do not die, for I am death itself."

And she transforms into a true manifestation of herself, so terrible that the Mew slumps over into unconsciousness.

_It has been a long goodbye. You were not fit to be a part of this world, my dear. Now, prepare to finally let go of your last fragments of mortality. You should be happy; I am releasing you from this world before it gasps for its last screaming, shattering breath. I am bestowing upon you something which you do not deserve._

She lunges, her body elongating over the huge embers and oceans of magma rushing in from the abysses faster than can be heard.

_I owe you nothing; you are the catalysts and causes of the apocalypse. Because of you and your corruption, you have condemned yourself to die here, buried in the cries of a dead world. Buried within the columns of fire. How does it feel?_

The last actions performed in the universe before it rips are Izanami's lunges, as she lets herself fall forward and allows her black crystal to rake across a pale white neck; the faint gasp as the final member of the Mew Mews gives up her life; the consumption of lava as it roars to the surface; and the gathering of a spirit within the red and orange crystal hanging from the untouched ceiling, joining a group of others who smile grotesquely as they witness the work of their hands.

* * *

**Notes: Izanami is a Japanese goddess. She was once a goddess of creation, before she became one of death.**

**Also, the character I wrote about was not necessarily Ichigo. See if you can figure it out!**

**'Til next time!  
**


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